Video released of Texas Planned Parenthood targeted in undercover sting by anti-abortion activists

In April, the anti-abortion activist group Live Action targeted Texas Planned Parenthoods in an undercover sting meant to expose the organization as encouraging and aiding women in obtaining abortions based on sex selection.

In a video posted today on YouTube, a woman posing as a patient asks to get an abortion only if the baby is determined to be a girl. She discusses her abortion options with a Planned Parenthood counselor in Austin.

Live Action tells the Daily Caller the video released today is the first in a series that will portray abortion facilities that willingly assist in sex-selection abortions. The organization would not release how many abortion providers they visited or how many complied with their requests.

In this video you can hear the counselor explain to the woman that abortions can only be performed up to 23 weeks and that the gender is not identifiable until around five months.You can see the unedited video here.

“We want people to understand the attitude of the abortion industry towards sex-selective abortion, and we want people to come to their own conclusions about the acceptability of this kind of behavior,” Live Action President Lila Rose said.

Planned Parenthood says the employee seen in the video had recently been hired, was not following protocol and was let go after the incident.

“Gender bias is contrary to everything our organization works for daily in communities across the country. Planned Parenthood opposes racism and sexism in all forms, and we work to advance equity and human rights in the delivery of health care,” Leslie Kantor and Carolyn Westhoff of Planned Parenthood wrote when the sting attempt was uncovered in April.

“Recent attempts to restrict or deny access to safe abortion under the guise of preventing gender bias is harmful to women’s health, counter to a human rights agenda, and primarily a political tactic of groups who work to make abortion illegal.”

Jezebel points out that according to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of baby boys born per 1,000 baby girls has been decreasing over the last 30 years and that only 1.5 percent of pregnancy terminations occur after the 20th week. A baby’s gender is widely identifiable around 20 weeks.

76 Responses

I’m tired of this woman. Can’t see the forest for the trees. Frankly, with people like her running around I just assume not have kids because I won’t terminate b/c of gender and I can’t stand the thought of a daughter of mine being treated like a second-class citizen. Ugh.

Moving on, I’m tired of her because rather than partnering with people who want to limit abortions but who believe in making them safe and legal should anyone decide she wants one, she’s decided to simply endanger women by trying to get Planned Parenthood shut down. She visits how many clinics to get her sensational one video, and attributes one employee’s poor training to an entire organization. It’s irresponsible reporting, and immoral.

Her last video set of a nationwide de-funding frenzy that has deprived millions of women of PAP smears, contraception, and STD testing. Excuse me if I don’t find that to be in the best interests of “protecting our girls.”

AgLee, Live Action trying to find a way to justify the prevention of abortion access reminds me of the different reasons GW Bush put out there to justify war on Iraq.
The results would be just as disastrous if Live Action ever succeeds. Which they won’t. It looks to me as if they’re starting to get desperate.

On has to wonder how many babies that woman has helped to be put to death and that is just one woman in one clinic. I am afraid that many have lost any resemblance of morality in all this as we rush down this path to murder the unborn. So many have seared their conscience to bad that they can even joke about it. How we can point our fingers at someone like Adolf Hitler and not see what we have become is beyond me. We are a nation to be scorned if not judged because of our shame and disgrace in this area.

We have lost more innocent people in a month in the Iraq/Afghan wars then we do anually via abortions. …and I hear jokes all the time about which country we should bomb next (Syria is the newest flavor).

The best way to reduce unwanted pregnancies is to provide good access health care that includes birth control. If we do that, we’ll stop 80% or more of all abortions!

#Kros – “We have lost more innocent people in a month in the Iraq/Afghan wars then we do anually via abortions…”

Juaquin Vargas, you’re right on target; liberals such as Kros seem to just pull figures out of the air, not expecting anyone to actually question them. According to Planned Parenthoods own documents, over 329,000 abortions were performed in 2010 alone. See their numbers here:

Even antiwar radicals do not place the war casualty count for the entire Iraqi war anywhere close to that. Kros, go spew your retoric somewhere else, like a local pig farm; they might like that stuff there.

This is most probably a very rare happening and not typical of all the good that Planned Parenthood does for many women with their health and family planning.
When will these pious people quit trying to interfer with people’s private lives?
Mentioning the one-child policy of China has no relevince to PP in our country.

This will only end up proving nothing.
No matter what kind of practices are exposed, those who support abortion will continue to support abortion.
Once a persons mind is made up, it is rare to make them change it…

Your first mistake is assuming I am “pro-life”.
I am of the opinion that there are circumstances that would drive a woman to decide to terminate a pregnancy. Will I champion or celebrate it? NO!!
Personally, I would not choose nor want this path. However, it’s truly not my business or decision. I’d rather a baby be placed for adoption. However, I would also rather a baby be terminated than live with a totally irresponsible person in dire circumstances, destined to be a life long ward of the State, to one degree or the other. The abortion issue is more of a distraction to take the focus away from our real problems. Politicians are happy to have you bickering over it. Abortion is not on my radar for decision making in the political arena. Does this clear my position up for you?

This is an excellent point. Live Action might have surreptitiously taped hundreds of clinic visits in an attempt to get a few poorly trained employees or misstatements. We will never know because, as you say, transparency is a one way street here.

Yes, some statistics are made up on the spot, but this particular one comes from the Guttmacher Institute who is not only reputable, but also can substantiate their methods and where their statistics came from. Nice try on making us all think the article is lying.

So Planned Parenthood said, “Gender bias is contrary to everything our organization works for daily in communities across the country. Planned Parenthood opposes racism and sexism in all forms…”

This is pretty ironic, since Margaret Sanger, the [evil] founder of Planned Parenthood, was an admitted proponent of eugenics who wanted to eliminate “dark-skinned” people and selectively breed all of the “mentally unfit” out of the human race through forced abortions and sterilizations. But ya know, whatever.

You don’t know if what I said about Margaret Sanger is true? Well, here are her beliefs in her own words…

“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

“[Eugenics] is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.”

“The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”

“Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”

“I saw a sickly baby in the arms of a terrified woman whose drunken husband had thrown the wailing, naked infant into the snow… I remember having keen sympathy with that man!”

Sanger essentially believed that motherhood was tantmount to slavery. She supported the sterilization of those she deemed “unfit” as the “salvation of American civilization.” She even approved of women in ancient Greece and Rome leaving their unwanted children to die in the elements (calling them “privileged” and “models for women”), and she blamed “meddling” Christians for putting an end to this barbaric practice and building orphanges instead. She also railed against Christian missionaries in China for working “to keep parents from drowning girl children,” since letting them live could cause food shortages. She would even criticize women who specifically wanted large families by calling them “brood animals” and “breeding machines.” Essentially, she was a racist, Catholic-hating sociopath who held very little value for human life.

don’t let morality get in the way of “progressivism”…..we can’t hold folks as slaves, i.e., property…but we’ve “progressed” oh so far as to say a living person in a woman’s body is her “property” to do with as she pleases. I’m not buying the liberal crud

All I see is a woman, going into a clinic, to receive information about terminating her pregnancy – exercising her legal right to choose – and the facility, sensitive her fear of not wanting to be “judged,” giving her the information she needs to exercise her choice. No story here. Next!

The girl was fired because she recommended to the girl commenting about terminating her pregnancy if she was having a girl to wait until 20 weeks so Medicaid would pay for the ultrasound. It’s not a war on women though, it’s just a skirmish on itty bitty baby girls.

“In this video, what is astounding is that Rebecca, the Planned Parenthood counselor, starts arranging with the actor about how to get a late-term abortion,” Rose said. “To wait until her pregnancy is so developed that — and using Medicaid for this, using the state to pay for the ultrasound to determine the gender, and then to do a late term abortion if it was a little girl.”

It is not a human. It is a fetus. Live Action is a pack of liars who cherry pick what they want to show who have no morals or ethics. You religious folks come close to making me sick. Kill in gods name? OK by you! Lie?? As long as it serves you purpose, go for it! You good religious people have been responsible for for more deaths that PP ever has. This is why I stopped believing in your fake spirit man.

w_professor wrote “It is not a human.It is a fetus.Live Action is a pack of liars who cherry pick what they want to show who have no morals or ethics. You religious folks come close to making me sick. Kill in gods name? OK by you!Lie??

The fetus has a beating heart and feelings. It feels the the pain and suffers significantly when it is aborted. It’s disgusting that we waste millions in taxes to help fund PP abortions. Liberals lie when they say that taxes are not used to fund PP abortions. The taxes it receives funds it’s operating expenses i.e. payroll, supplies, utilities etc… therefore allowing it use the funds it receives from other services to fund abortions.

@ Paula…so does a single cell organism. So do plants. To feel pain does not make one human.
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@ wprofessor..your attack on religious people is a bit hateful. I’m a prochoice Christian, and one of the main reasons you don’t see many other protestant religions getting into the kerfluffle over abortion is because we know not even clergy can agree on when life begins.

Some say conception. Some say viability. Others say birth–that the baby’s first breath is the soul entering the body. Still others say baptism..since you don’t even exist in God’s eyes until then.

So I remain prayerfully pro-choice. I think abortion should be safe and legal…and I also think euthanasia should be an option.
A true Christian does NOT fear death, so painting it as a horrible thing (like the anti abortionists do) is about as anti-religious as you can get.

Because someone assaulted the woman’s body, Rick. Duh? When a woman chooses to terminate, she’s making the decision regarding something happening in her body. A drunk driver made the decision for her. It’s not a perfect solution, of course, as you yourself have pointed out, but would you rather the driver be charged with loss of property? Or something else?

I wish fake baby savers would spend this energy on saving the children living in our society now that suffer from poverty, neglect, and are abused in foster homes. They rather focus on trying to control the choices of others than to really save a child.

I was driving passed a clinic a couple weeks ago, and as I was stopped at a light, I heard some of what was being said to women as they walked in. You religious hacks are insane. You are no better than the jerks who protested at military funerals and the occupy wall st. idiots. You may think you are, but you aren’t. If you truly believe in God, then do something positive rather than ragging on others for making LEGAL decisions. It is none of your business. Find something better to do with your time like nurturing your own kids.

The one child policy of China has nothing to do with this one very isolated happening.
The option of legal abortion in safe medical facilities in our country prevents many that would be performed in illegal and unsafe situations if that right was not available. Abortions are done everywhere whether legal or not.

I’d love it if any of you “progressives” would finall open your minds and just check out PP’s founder Margaret Sanger and her links to the Third Reich, and their links to the American eugenics movement. Follow that to Hugh Hefner proudly boasing being Roe V. Wade, here in Esquire (hardly a conservative magazine); http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/ESQ0602-JUN_WIL

When the couple behind legalized abortion turn out to be an evil old racist white woman and dirty old white man, a Hitler comparison is the best you can hope for.

And the United States was founded by a group of men, most of whom owned slaves. We do not judge the present actions of the country on the flawed morality of its founders. Sanger’s views on eugenics, from 80 years ago, were sadly not very unique for their time. Sanger, ironically, did not approve of abortion. Strange how that never seems to come up in anti-PP comments.

Part of the right’s Breitbart fantasies. With enough editing, we can make it look like Hitler is pro-choice. And Fox will show anything. Just like the Trump today saying the President said he was born in Kenya. You can’t get rid of dumb people, because they multiply like rabbits. As Honest Abe (another Republican) once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time”. He knew what Fox knows.

*Sigh*…no tax money is used for abortions. It’s ILLEGAL. Check out the Hyde Amendment for a little education.
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Conservatives screaming ‘tax money is used for abortions’ is as lame and tired as the pro-illegal aliens yelling, ‘white people are all illegal aliens!’

Big deal! You aren’t going to get your way. Give up already! Very few women seek abortions, as most use some kind of birth control. Go ahead and continue hating the organization that distributes care to poor women. You can’t help but hate anything you can’t control. But please understand that you cannot win….

George – As an American, I want to live in a society where the principles of justice and honesty are used to resolve political questions.

I firmly believe that justice and honesty favor the side of women seeking to protect their right to have an abortion. At least up to a point of fetal development where most of the abortions that are done are done out of medical necessity.

If honesty and justice can protect her rights, they they should be able to protect *my* rights, as an LGBT person.

So yes, it *is* my business, in a roundabout way. What protects *her*, protects *me*.

Yay, the classic assumption that all pro-lifers are Christian and fundamentalist! As if one’s religion (or the degree of it) has anything to do with whether you believe murder is wrong. Unless it does, of course, in which case I guess I’d better watch my back lest some atheist stab me to death for the fun of it, huh? Last time I checked, all the major world religions hold the same basic moral beliefs (against murder, stealing, etc.), and last time I checked, non-religious people also have morals. If I said it’s wrong to kill your mother, you’d never say I’m some crazy fundamentalist. But if I say it’s wrong to kill an unborn child, suddenly it has something very specific to do with the Bible. I don’t get that.

“Planned Parenthood says the employee seen in the video had recently been hired, was not following protocol and was let go after the incident.”

I have seen a number of videos like this out of Planned Parenthood. Every time that this organization is found to be aiding illegal activity like not reporting human sex trafficking, not reporting indecent assault of minors seeking abortion or sexually transmitted disease treatment, Planned Parenthood uses this excuse. It is becoming tiresome and profane.

So the Republicans prefer to move in alignment with the Islamic nations on women’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. Remember when the Catholic church was instrumental in allowing even condoms to be sold. They have fought family planning all the way. And when you see the sexual problems that have come to light with priests you have wonder why people still are swayed.

What I want to know is how many thousands of hours of video did these creeps shoot to find one single (new) employee who might have used a few wrong words when helping a (fake…liar….and psycho) woman with a very difficult decision. And like every other right-wing “sting” video…it’s probably been heavily edited and twisted beyond recognition…a pack of lies and distortions…like those creepy James O’Keefe psycho concoctions.

Abortion is legal people accept it and move on. No one has the right to tell me what I do with my body. There was a man in the news a few weeks ago asking the government to help him pay child support for 30 kids he has. Brining children into this world to live in hell like that is wrong as well. If someone wants to live with the decision of abortion then they have that right. Conservativesalways want to judge those that abort fetus’s yet they don’t want to pay the higher tax’s to support kids on welfare. Pick an arguement and stick with it!

Abortion is not a solution. Maturity & being subject to all consequences of ones actions is a start. Having counseled many women
who have undergone one or more, I can tell you that many of them suffer greatly b/c of their decision. Regret & lots of anguish over the most final of decisions that a human can make.

As someone who, like “hope” has counseled women after an abortion, I can confidently say that while some may regret their decision, most do not. The emotion I see most after an abortion?
Relief.
Abortion is a legal option that women have. Whether or not you agree with that option, it remains legal and safe. And it must.

I don’t understand what business it is of ours why a woman chooses to have an abortion in the first place.

Ah yes…”it’s legal–accept it.” Yep, never fight to change a law you disagree with. Want to legalize pot? Well, sit down and shut up because it’s illegal, so you’d better accept it. Want to legalize gay marriage? Well, too darned bad because you’d better man up and *accept* that that’s not going to happen.

Derp.

BTW, I’m pro-life. I don’t approve of bombing clinics or engaging in PETA-esque chicanery to get the point across. But holy hell, this is a free bloody country, and if I choose to express a view, like that I disagree with a law, then I’ll bloody express it.

What’s bad is that there are certain cultures where girl babies are less desired. China, the middle east, for example…even latin countries put less value on a girl than a boy.
But frankly, why a woman chooses to abort is none of anyone’s business. It’s a PRIVATE decision.
If I worked at Planned Parenthood, I’d be suspicious of anyone coming up and asking such pointed questions in such a public arena.
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As for Live Action…they’re liars by presenting themselves as patients. And if they’re religious, evidently they missed the lesson that no sin is greater than another. So being a liar, they are putting themselves on the same level as the ‘murderers’ they paint PP to be.